CFACT's kicked off a new billboard on busy I-10 in Louisiana which reads, "Russia funneled Green groups millions of dollars to oppose fracking & cripple American energy," and asks, "How's that for COLLUSION?"

Shady cash from Vladimir Putin’s Russian energy oligarchs and other rich donors is being laundered through Bermuda-based lawyers and middlemen to “green” pressure groups, lobbyists, and spinmeisters – to promote “green energy” schemes that bring billions of dollars from government agencies (and thus from us taxpayers and consumers) to a cabal of billionaires and crony companies. At the epicenter are hedge fund millionaire Nathaniel Simons, his wife Laura Baxter-Simons, and their secretive Sea Change Foundation. “Investors” become even wealthier, as billions of dollars are transferred annually to environmentalists, scientists, politicians, bureaucrats, and crony-corporatists in Renewable Energy & Climate Crisis, Inc. The [...]

CFACT energy policy advisor Marita Noon reveals how Hillary Clinton has positioned herself on both sides of the fracking issue -- but her campaign for President emphasizes an end to all uses of fossil fuels and a total reliance on so-called "renewable" energy.

CFACT advisor Marita Noon notes that the Iranian nuclear deal -- which puts Israel at great risk -- is already matched by the fact that Israel relies heavily on Russia and Kurdistan for its crude oil -- and suggests that one major benefit of lifting the ban on U.S. oil exports would be to provide Israel (and western Europe) with alternative supplies of crude oil for their refineries.

Is it merely a coincidence that millions of dollars of Russian money have been laundered and forwarded to anti-fossil fuel radical environmentalists to fight exploration and development by the United States of Alaska's vast oil and gas and minerals reserves? While Russia plans to seize the entire Arctic for its own use, the United States shuts down all future development over nearly 20 million acres of land and sea -- for absolutely zero environmental benefit, especially since Russia will likely be able to exploit much of that same territory anyway. Just as bac, Obama did this despite universal opposition from Alaska's elected officials -- robbing the state of much-needed jobs and revenues. Hopefully, this theft and giveaway to Russia can be reversed.

CFACT policy analyst Marita Noon reports that President Obama's made dash to prevent U.S. oil and gas activities in the very profitable Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) may stem more from Russian money funneled to U.S.-based environmental nonprofits -- and the desire of the President to please such groups -- than from any intelligent rationale for declaring these rich lands off limits to the minimal development needed for resource extraction. Russia, meanwhile, is conducting military-scale operations in a possible effort to take physical control of the entire Arctic region.

By Marita Noon|2015-02-03T07:57:08+00:00February 2nd, 2015|CFACT Insights|Comments Off on America is falling behind in the new cold war over Arctic oil and gas

July 28th, 1914, Austria declared war on Serbia one month after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife Sophie. The great powers of Europe began to mobilize their armies.
Two imperial cousins, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany engaged in a fascinating exchange of telegrams (in English) as their nations teetered on the brink of war.

The U.S. today has the resources to counter such moves as Russia's recent cutoff of natural gas shipments to Ukraine and the ISIS surge in Iraq that threatens that nation's oil and gas deliveries. The simple changes in law and policy needed to expedite the growth of the U.S. LNG business are to (a) open up federal lands and waters to drilling, and in particular, hydrofracking, and (b) expedite approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy of LNG export plans that would bring jobs for out-of-work Americans and tax revenues to state and local governments.

James Rust, taking a note from Peter Glover's article about Russian energy imperialism, suggests the U.S. should step up its own energy production and liberalize our oil and gas export laws to provide Europe with the means to thwart Russia's bold geopolitical strategy. Of course, the Europeans might do well to reverse their own anti-energy-production policies. The key is to remember that fossil fuels production is a manufacturing process that drives economic growth.

By James Rust|2014-03-25T16:29:43+00:00March 24th, 2014|Guest Insights|Comments Off on Putin’s gift to America’s energy independence